Toothbrush



July-28,1941 F. RIVANOV' 2,290,894

TOOTH BRUSH Filed May 8, 1939 2 Sheets-Sheet l F. RIVANOV July 28, 1942.

TOOTH BRUSH Filed May 8, 1939 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 five/2%;

fi/u: Him-7220M 0' t out/b 7 fl Patented July 28, 1942 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,290,894 TOOTHBRUSH Felix Rivanov, San Francisco, Calif. Application May 8, 1939, Serial No. 272,517

Claims.

This invention relates to tooth brushes; and it comprises the combination of a bristle-holding, replaceable bar or blade provided with at least one row of bristles arranged in open, undulating form, and a pair of pivoted members provided at one end with handles forming a hand grip and at the other end with jaw members adapted to clamp said bristle-holding blade therebetween with the bristles protruding therefrom in position for use, the distance between the undulations of said row of bristles advantageously. corresponding substantially to the distance between the front teeth and the distance between the tops and the bottoms of said undulations corresponding substantially to the distance between the gingeval margins of the upper and lower teeth; all as more fully hereinafter set forth and as claimed.

An object of this invention is to provide a tooth brush incorporating a handle device and an inter-changeable bristle-carrying blade; whereby a rapid change of bristles may be made by the user, thereby insuring a more sanitary brush than tooth brushes now generally in use.

A further object of the invention is to provide a tooth brush having a bristle element so constructed as to readily cleanse the gingeval margins of the upper and lower sets of teeth simultaneously and with a longitudinal movement alone. This results in a substantial saving of time and efiort in brushing the teeth. Heretofore it has been necessary, in the brushing of teeth, to cleanse the gingeval marigns separately.

A further object of the invention is to provide a tooth brush having at least one row of bristles disposed in undulating fashion lengthwise of the brush, the distance between the undulations corresponding substantially to the distances between the front teeth. This arrangement of bristles has the advantage that the spacesbetween several teeth may be cleansed simultaneously with an up and down motion of the brush only.

A still further object of the invention is to provide an inter-changeable blade whereby the bristles of the blade may be impregnated with a dentrifice prior to their sale to the public, thus afiording users of this type of brush much convenience.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent during the course of the followingdescription of the drawings in which,

Fig. 1 is a top plan view of the tooth brush in ready-for-use position,

Fig. 2 is a bottom plan view thereof,

Fig. 3 is a top plan view of the tooth brush in open position with the bristle-carrying blade in position before being clamped,

Fig. 4 is a side view of the tooth brush,

Fig. 5 is an enlarged sectional view taken along the lines 55 of Fig. 1, looking in the direction of the arrows,

' Fig. 6 is a partial top plan view of a modified holder in open position,

Fig.7 is a perspective view showing a modified bristle-holding blade in various stages of its manufacture,

Fig. 8 is a side elevational view of the blade holder with the modified blade inserted in position for use, while Fig. 9* is a sectional view, corresponding to the section shown in Fig. 5, taken through the blade and holder, the blade being of the modified form shown in Figs. 7 and 8.

In the drawings like elements are designated by like reference numerals. Referring first to Figs. 1 and 2, elements I and 2 represent a pair of holding members which are pivoted scissorlike at 3. It will be noted. from the various figures, that handle member I may be longer than handle member 2, and that both may be flared outwardly at one of their extremities. This affords a comfortable hand grip to the user. Element 4 is a set screw, the purpose of which is to regulate the tightening or loosening of the handle members.

At the other extremities of the handles an undulating clamp is provided comprising jawlike members 5 and 6. On the inner side of these members grooves l and 8 serve as means for holding the bristle-holding blade shown generally at H. Congruent, undulated projections 9 and II] are formed on one side of each wall of the respective grooves and are adapted to register with one another, the edges of the undulations bing spaced apart at a definite distance from one another so as to allow the bristles of the blade member to project therethrough.

The bristle-holding blade ll consists substantially of a solid, elongated bar I2 having an open undulated row of bristles l3 carried on one face or side thereof- Bar l2 may be made of hard rubber or plastic and the bristles may be secured therein in conventional manner. This bar fits snugly within the groove 1 and 8 of the jaw members 5 and 6, while the bristles, due to their undulated configuration, register and extend through the undulated opening formed by the spaced undulations carried by the jaw members.

The bristles l3 in the replaceable blade member are advantageously impregnated with a dentifrice, shown at 15 in Fig. 4, prior to 'their sale, so that, upon wetting the bristles with water, a paste will be formed, thus, saving considerable time to the user.

The operation of the tooth brush shown in Figs. 1 to is as follows: By simply unscrewing the set screw 4, the handle members I and 2 may be pulled apart. One of the bristle-carrying blades is then inserted in one of the grooves I and 8 carried by the jaw member 5 and 6 and the handles are then squeezed together, thus clamping the bristle-carrying blade tightly between the two jaw-like members. The set screw 4 is then tightened and the tooth brush is ready for immediate use.

In Fig. 6 a modified form of holder is shown which is provided with removable handles. The shanks Id of the pivoted jaw members are threaded and may be screwed into the handles as clearly indicated in the figure. This form of holder is conveniently used in traveling since the handles can be unscrewed for convenience in packing.

The modified bristle-holding blade which is shown in Figs. 7, 8 and 9 can be manufactured at a considerably lower cost than that shown in the other figures and can be made entirely by machine. One method of making this blade is illustrated in Fig. '7. At the right end of this figure there is shown a strip of metal or paper l6 and a wire H which is disposed centrally and longitudinally with respect to the strip l6. Between the wire and the strip is placed a layer of bristles I3, running transversely. The bristleholding blade is formed by folding the edges of the strip and bristles around the wire, as indicated at I3, and then stitching or riveting the two edges of the strip together, as shown at Hi.

If desired the bristles may be introduced between the wire and the strip uniformly or they may be concentrated at spaced intervals in such fashion that the forward end of the bristle-holding blade may be provided with a tuft of bristles 29 which is convenient in cleaning the back teeth, for example. If desired the bristles in the tuft 20 may be longer than the bristles in the center of the brush. It is also possible, of course, to introduce longer bristles at the rear end of the bristle-holding blade but this is not as important as at the forward end.

The third step in the manufacture of the bristle-holding blade is to press or stamp the folded and stitched strip l6 between dies, not shown, into undulating form, as indicated at 2| in Fig. 7. If the strip is made of paper this step is not required since the jaws 5 and 6 of the holder serve to perform this operation. But if the strip I6 is of metal it is desirable to have the bristle-holding blade pre-formed into undulating shape in order that it may be slippedreadily into the holder.

After the strip has. been stitched, folded. and then undulated, it may be cut to length and'then the blade is completed. It is evident that the operations of laying the bristles across the flexible strip, placing the wire across the bristles, folding the strip, undulating the strip and finally cutting to length can be all performed by one or more automatic machines, with the strip shown in Fig. 7 moving stepwise or continuously from right to left through the machine, the discharge end of the machine being at the left of the figure. It is thus evident that the bristle-holding blades of my invention can be manufactured in large quantities at high speed and at a very low cost.

Fig. 9 shows a cross section of a bristle-holding blade when manufactured as just described, this blade being clamped between the two jaw members 5 and 6 of the holder. In this modification it will be noted that the grooves I and 8 are approximately half-round in order to clamp the folded strip 16 securely. In Fig. 8 a side view of the modified brush is shown, the structure of which is believed to be clear from the preceding description.

The operation of the modification shown in Figs. 6 to 9 is identical to that of the brush shown in Figs. 1 to 5. The advantage of this modification is largely due to its cheaper construction. Owing to the fact that the bristle-holding blade is to be used but once and then discarded, it is possible to construct the strip 16 of paper or any other light, flexible material.

The bristle-holding blades of my invention may be packaged and sold in lots of 5 or 10, for example. My tooth brush is particularly convenient for use in traveling owing to the fact that it is only necessary to carry the holder and a package of the blades. The usual tube of tooth paste is not required. Neither is it necessary to provide a water-proof case for the blade holder since this can be wiped dry after the blade is discarded.

It will be noted that the bristles of my brush are arranged in three different shapes, each of which is of particular utility in cleaning different parts of the mouth. Most dentists employ three different brushes of different shape in the cleaning of teeth. This is too expensive and cumbersome, especially for the individual, but the present brush provides three shapes in one, namely a projecting tuft of bristles at the end, an adjacent half-round section and then an undulating section. The advantages of these three sections for cleaning different portions of the mouth can be readily appreciated. A sanitary tooth brush is provided for every purpose.

The bristles of my brush are usually arranged in the blade holder in a single row extending from one end of the blade to the other. But it is possible, of course, to provide several parallel' rows of these bristles. It is advantageous to dispose these bristles in such fashion that the distance between undulations corresponds substantially to the average distance between the front teeth while the distance between the tops and the bottoms of the undulations corresponds substantially to the distance between the two gingeval margins of the front teeth. When arranged in this fashion a longitudinal or horizontal motion of the brush will clean both gingeval margins simultaneously, while a transverse or vertical motion will clean the spaces between the teeth simultaneously. Brushes may be supplied to the trade having undulations of different size in order that both children and adults may obtain full benefit from this arrangement of the bristles.

It, is to be understood that the form of the invention shown and described herewith is to be taken as a preferred example of the same, and that various changes in the shape, size and arrangement of parts may be resorted to, without departing from the spirit of the invention, or the scope of the following claims.

What I claim is:

1. A tooth brush comprising in combination a rigid, elongated bristle-holding replaceable bar provided with at least one row of bristles mounted longitudinally in one side thereof in permanent, open undulating form, and a pair of pivoted members provided at one end with handles forming a hand grip and at the other end with jaw members adapted to clamp said bristle-holding bar therebetween in position for use with said bristles in undulating form with said row ofbristles remaining in said open undulating form.

2. The tooth brush of claim 1 wherein the distance between the undulations of said row of bristles corresponds substantially to the distance between the front teeth.

3. The tooth brush of claim 1 wherein the distance between the tops and the bottoms of the undulations of said row of bristles corresponds substantially to the distance between the two gingeval margins of the front teeth.

4. The tooth brush of claim 1 wherein the distance between the undulations of said row of bristles corresponds substantially to the distance 3 between the front teeth and the distance between the tops and the bottoms of said undulations corresponds substantially to the distance between the two gingeval margins of the front teeth.

5. A tooth brush comprising in combination a rigid, elongated, bristle-holding, replaceable bar provided with at least one row of bristles mounted longitudinally in one side thereof in permanent, open undulating form, and a pair of pivoted members provided at one end with handles forming a hand grip and at the other end with jaw members having a groove cut in their inner faces, the side walls of said grooves being congruent and corresponding in shape to the shape of said undulating row of bristles, said grooves and said side walls being adapted to clamp said bristle-holding bar therebetween in position for use with said row of bristles remaining in said open undulating form.

FELIX RIVANOV. 

